It’s important to understand dangers of ‘granite dust’

It’s important to understand dangers of ‘granite dust’

August 22, 2013 07:20AM

I have been trying to raise the awareness of those who don’t understand the danger of the tons of “granite dust” polluting the air around the Copar quarry.

It is frustrating to know that “environmental experts” just want to measure “how much granite dust” is coming from Copar’s quarry, but are “completely ignorant” of the fact that the “granite dust” is mostly crystalline silica, and it is highly toxic to your lungs. In fact, Copar’s granite is “90 percent crystalline silica,” according to an independent lab report. Summer’s southwest prevailing wind blows 95 percent “granite dust,” or tons of crystalline silica, out of the quarry toward the Woody Hill Reservoir, about 800 yards away. In winter, the prevailing wind from the northwest blows “tons” of crystalline silica toward the Olaf Farm Pond Dam, also 800 yards from the quarry. The Bradford Elementary School is also “dusted” by the quarry. Now I don’t know how the “tons” of crystalline silica (granite dust) are affecting our precious water supplies and wetlands, but when the immature lungs of kids breathe in crystalline silica (granite dust), it is just like breathing in “crystalline asbestos.”